According to Mayor Jakubeit he consulted with the other councilors and they have reached a unanimous decision to proceed with Trio’s proposal. Quote: “Council was united in their support to continue forward with the Trio Marine Group.”
When did this decision take place? When was this meeting held? Was this at another secret council meeting or was it a secret phone call instead?
The mayor has been on city council since the civic election in 2008; yet apparently he still does not understand that the purpose of council rooms at city hall is to have public meetings and make decisions in public.
If the mayor wished the advice of council on whether to proceed with this matter after the rally at city hall he should have called a special council meeting or he should have placed it on the agenda of the next council meeting and held the discussion and the vote to move forward on this proposal in public.
Cliff Martin and his group will be having a meeting to decide where to carry this referendum from here. I shall be attending that meeting.
Cliff and his group have a mandate; 1,400 people signed this call for a referendum on commercial development in public parks.
I shall be recommending to this group that two petitions go forward: a petition for a referendum on commercial development in public parks and a separate petition to the provincial government recall to this council and have a new election independent of city hall influence.
There is not enough public consultation in Penticton and that which is held is insufficient to the public good. We do not live in a dictatorship yet.
Take heart people of Penticton. And remember this idiom: “It ain’t over til it’s over.”
We should never assume an event is at an end and not irreversible. We still live in a democracy.
This has just begun.
Elvena Slump
Penticton